Yes, single motherhood is a drag. So is single fatherhood. But I doubt that is the main reason that overall income is down. So many couples in USA have been reduced to poverty because one or both partners have lost their jobs and IF, (that is a big IF) they can find other work it is rarely at the same pay level of the jobs they lost. More often than not they are reduced to waiting tables or some other lower-level part-time work and they will eat through their savings and be on food stamps and tra-la-la-la-la, we know how this CD plays.

So rather than try to blame the increasing poverty levels on single motherhood, it would be more helpful to take a more macroeconomic look at what is happening: The whole country is sliding into poverty while the manufacturing sector AND their owners shift offshore.

Khalas theigeiyu vat (end of story).

4:42 pm September 22, 2013

WSW wrote:

They should learn how to cross their legs!

5:17 am September 24, 2013

Julie wrote:

I thought economists put more effort into understand the economy than married versus unmarried or single parent family versus married family.

I personally, as a single parent and not an economist, would look at the choices and opportunities of both these groups to understand what's happening here. How many of the married families were single parents and remarried? How many of the single parents are young, what is the education they have and what obstacles do they face? As a single parent, and a drag to you and your readers, lol, I think I will look twice when I read the wall street journal and come across an economist. There's also other things I would take into account before making a statement that marriage solves poverty or lifts people into higher income brackets.

8:02 am November 4, 2013

Anonymous wrote:

Single parents always love to make excuses. They never want to take any responsibility for their poor choices and everyone else has to pay for it.

5:16 pm March 29, 2014

Debbie wrote:

test

5:20 pm March 29, 2014

Anonymous wrote:

There are many types of single moms out there. As a well educated and employed single mom, who makes a good salary, I am sad when I see all single moms lumped into a category judging them as being undeserving and slutty women who have made poor choices. Basically the sentiment is that the single mom deserves to be in the position they are in. Ridiculous. I'm a single mom because my husband died of cancer. I work a full time job and 2+ part time jobs so as to provide a nice home and an excellent education for my children. It is hard work but I do it because I love my children and I want the best for us. Despite this, I still feel stigmatized for being a "single mom".

Regardless of how one becomes a single mom, I feel that single moms should be considered heroes because they work hard to provide for their children, often when the father of the children chooses not to and walks away. For their choice to take care of their children, they are looked down upon while the father receives little if any scrutiny at all. If the single moms walked away, like so many fathers, then the children would be wards of the state and all of the complainers out there would be paying for them. And, anticipating the argument that the complainers already are through subsidies, food stamps, or welfare benefits, I'd counter by saying that many single moms belong to the working poor, meaning they work long hours for little pay, while receiving supplements from the government to make ends meet. The moms are shouldering the bulk of the costs through their hard work.

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